but God… where MY story changes.
Our life is filled with lies.
We are lied to by others, we’re lied to by those we love, we’re lied to by the media, we’re lied to by the enemy… we are lied to by OURSELVES.
Lies permeate our brain and the more we hear those lies, the more we tell ourselves those lies, the more those lies are repeated in our heads over. and over. and over. and over. and over. and over again…
The more we begin to believe those lies to be truth.
Rewiring our brains and replacing lies with truth is really hard work. Really, really hard work. The lies didn’t get cemented into our brains overnight, and they won’t be replaced with truths overnight. It takes work.
But it is such important work.
Because God says it is and He wants us to know the Truth… His truth.
I have struggled a lot with the lies in my brain this year… but God. God has been so gracious to me to do a good work in me of replacing those lies. Lies that tell me it was my fault my baby boys died… lies that I will never be strong enough… lies that I will never be successful… lies that I will never accomplish anything for God… lies that I am not a great wife or lies that tell me I’m a terrible mother.
They’re all awful, horrible lies.
But GOD, friend. BUT GOD…
Back in October, my friend Anna connected me with Rachael Smith, the founder of Oh Lord Help Us, an incredible ministry that does incredible work to elevate the lives of women such as employing and mentoring young women aging out of foster care, writing and publishing resources to support mentoring relationships, building up women all over the world through online devotionals, and writing and publishing resources to support mentoring relationships.
Rachael also published a six-week devotional called but God… where the story changes. I started this study at the beginning of this year and it’s already been transformational. Each week, the study walks you through a different exercise, it includes supporting scripture verses to read, and ultimately begins to work in all of the Truths that will replace the lies the enemy has told us time and time again.
Week 1 is the introduction and it goes through the prep work that has to be done in order to prepare ourselves to replace the lies with truth. Weeks 2 through 6 cover 5 truths that God says about us: we are Loved, we are Pursued, we are Redeemed, we are Beautiful, and we are Enough.
This study has just been so good for my soul.
There is this narrative in our culture today that says we have to do it all our own. We have to “pick ourselves up by our own bootstraps” and we have to rely completely on ourselves to be successful / have it all / etc. I just feel so strongly that that is all only a half-truth… and mostly a lie. God has done it for us. He gives us more than we can handle SO THAT we will rely on HIM to handle it. Yes, we have to do the work. Yes, we have to keep showing up, but when we pour ourselves INTO our Heavenly Father, He is able to carry our load, HE is able to pour BACK into us…
He is just so good.
I can’t recommend the but God… devotional enough. There’s even a “Leader Pack” option if you want to do the study with a small group! Check them out.
What about you? What are the lies you’ve told yourself over and over again that YOU need to replace with God’s truth?